Saturday, May 12, 2007

San Diego's election officials..top to bottom. UGH!

Some line-up of Repubs San Diego has accumulated:

Walt Ekard:Walt Ekard, San Diego County’s assistant chief administrative officer for the past 2½ years, today was appointed to the top administrator’s job by the Board of Supervisors. Ekard will succeed current Chief Administrative Officer Larry Prior, who leaves his post later this month for a job in the private sector.As CAO, Ekard will oversee an organization with 17,000 employees and an annual budget of $2.4 billion. His goals include the successful conclusion of an information technology outsourcing project begun by Prior, and building upon the County’s record of efficiency and attention to customer service.“Larry Prior will certainly be a tough act to follow. But if anyone can do it, that person is Walt Ekard,” said Chairwoman Pam Slater of the Board of Supervisors. "Walt has the experience, the talent and the vision to help us bring the County to new levels of excellence.”Before becoming assistant chief administrator, Ekard managed the Rancho Santa Fe Association, which provided vital services to that North County community. He also served on the staffs of two former County Supervisors.

Mikel Haas:The Diebold machines bought for use in San Diego County were retrofitted with paper scrolls that print out voters' choices in a format much like a grocery receipt. The paper stays in the machine, but voters can check the scroll to make sure it matches their votes. After the polls close, election workers post the paper records outside the polling place for the public to view.“In California, your vote is recorded on paper, somehow, some way, no matter what system you use, whether paper ballot, optical scan card or electronic voting system,” said Mikel Haas, San Diego County registrar of voters. “Everyone's vote is preserved on paper in California.”

Michael Vu:Elections official Michael Vu, (formerly head in Cuyahoga County) has just been hired on by San Diego County. After two felony convictions, and the removal of his entire elections board by the Ohio Secretary of State on grounds of malfeasance generally, this elections official insider has this to say about the two convicted election-rigging felons from our 2004 presidential election: " Vu defended the workers, saying they had followed longtime procedures and done nothing wrong."

Deborah Seiler:An influential employee of voting machine maker Diebold Election Systems left the company recently to take a job as elections manager for a California county.Deborah Seiler, a sales representative for the beleaguered voting company, was hired a week ago and started Monday in Solano County, northeast of San Francisco in California's wine country. The position puts her second in command of elections in the county, under the registrar of voters.The move raises eyebrows because Seiler played a role in a recent scandal involving Diebold and the county. As the Diebold sales rep, Seiler sold Solano County nearly 1,200 touch-screen machines that were not federally tested or state certified. When the state banned the machines because of Diebold's business practices, the county had to find a replacement for the machines and pay Diebold more than $400,000 to get out of its contract."This is outrageous. This is just a total runaround of the democratic process," said Douglas MacDonald, of the Community Labor Alliance, an activist group that pressured Solano County to end its contract with Diebold. "There was an open debate and discussion, and the county (supervisors) decided that Diebold is not the company, is not the philosophy, that we want behind the running of elections in Solano County. Then what happens? They go out and hire the person who was advocating that philosophy."But Ira Rosenthal, Solano County's registrar of voters and chief information officer, defended the hire, saying that Seiler was the best-qualified candidate for the job. She had been California's chief elections official in the mid-1980s before taking the job with Diebold.

3 comments:

San Diego residents are asleep at the wheel. Thanks for noticing. I've innundated Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi, NY Times etc. No responses. We're out there alone. A neo-con template for the rest of the country.

Absolutely agree, Anonymous. Talk about a set-up to screw up the vote! Me, I'm voting by mail-in ballot...not that I expect it to be counted, but wouldn't go near those machines with a 90-foot pole. I, too, have yelled like hell, but fear it's all to no avail. Infuriating.